Q07: Does In Vitro Fertilization Work?

A: Yes. IVF was introduced in the United States in 1981. Since 1985, when we began counting, through the end of 2006, almost 500,000 babies have been born in the United States as a result of reported Assisted Reproductive Technology procedures (IVF, GIFT, ZIFT, and combination procedures). IVF currently accounts for more than 99% of ART procedures with GIFT, ZIFT and combination procedures making up the remainder. The average live delivery rate for IVF in 2005 was 31.6 percent per retrieval--a little better than the 20 per cent chance in any given month that a reproductively healthy couple has of achieving a pregnancy and carrying it to term. In 2002, approximately one in every hundred babies born in the US was conceived using ART and that trend continues today.